Estimating Cost for process equipment has always been an achilles heel for process engineers including

yours truly. Everytime when I was asked to provide budgetary cost for equipment mentioned in a Front
End Engineering Design report I used to be red-faced because I just had no idea of how equipment was
costed. Fortunately in one or two organizations where I worked there was a procurement and inspection
group who knew quite a lot about equipment cost and could provide the data. But there were also
occasions where I struggled to find cost data since I had no support of a costing or procurement engineer.
Some research on the subject allowed me to find empirical methods of costing some common type of
process equipment using empirical correlations. Todays blog entry is related to costing of "Fixed Cone
Roof Carbon Steel Storage Tanks". I am presenting the equations below which can be programmed in an
excel sheet and which I have already programmed as one. I believe that the cost calculated from the
equations described below should be good enough for a +/- 25% budgetary cost. It would be appropriate
to mention the references for these equations beforehand and they are as follows:

"Estimate Costs of Heat Exchangers and Storage Tanks via Correlations" by Armando B. Corripio,
Katherine S. Chrien, and Lawrence B. Evans, Chemical Engineering magazine January 25, 1982.

Base Cost for CS Shop Fabricated tanks

SI Units

CB = EXP(7.994 + 0.6637*lnV - 0.063088*(lnV)2)

where:

CB = Base Cost of the tank, USD

V = Volume in m3, Lower Limit: 5 m 3, Upper Limit: 80 m3

USC Units

CB = EXP(2.331 + 1.3673*lnV - 0.063088*(lnV)2)

where:

CB = Base Cost of the tank, USD

V = Volume in US Gallons, Lower Limit: 1,300 gallon, Upper Limit: 21,000 gallon

Base Cost for CS Field-Erected tanks

SI Units

CB = EXP(9.369 - 0.1045*lnV + 0.045355*(lnV)2)

where:

CB = Base Cost of the tank, USD

V = Volume in m3, Lower Limit: 80 m3, Upper Limit: 45,000 m3

USC Units

CB = EXP(11.362 - 0.6104*lnV + 0.045355*(lnV)2)

where:

CB = Base Cost of the tank, USD

V = Volume in US Gallons, Lower Limit: 21,000 gallon, Upper Limit: 11,000,000 gallon

Updated Cost

CB(updated) = CB*(CICY / CIBY)

where:

CB(updated) = Updated Cost of the Tank, USD

CICY = Cost Index, Current Year

CIBY = Cost Index, Base Year

Note: Cost Index (CI) for any year can be obtained form the Chemical Engineering Plant Cost Index
(CEPCI) data.

General Notes:

1. Cost of field-erected tanks includes the costs of platforms and ladders but not of foundations and other
installation materials (piping, electrical, instrumentation etc.)

2. Cost of shop-fabricated tanks does not include any installation materials including platforms / ladders.

I also plan to put the correlations for costing "Shell & Tube" Heat Exchangers, which are somewhat
complex considering the type of head and the tube metallurgy, in my next blog entry. Let me have
comments from the members of "Cheresources". Happy reading.